Do you like puzzles? Ok hear me out. :) Sat Nov 23 (landing in Budapest) through Mon Dec 9 (flying out of Munich), flights are booked, cast in stone. 16 nights on the ground. We are very comfortable driving in and around Germany, probably would feel the same about Austria and Italy, but would like to see if we can do this one mainly by train.
Budapest to start, 4 (or 5) nts, would like to leave on a night train across Austria. (Night train, ok, I hate the term bucket list, especially the older I get! But a night train is "bucket list", or let's say "high priority experience" for me.)
Other top priorities, Salzburg, 3-4 nights. Could do 4 if it's reasonable to stay there our last night, a Sunday, and be in Munich for a flight at 3:55 pm the next day.
Two nights in Rothenburg ob der Tauber. I know it's out of the way but it was super magical in 2022 and we've booked the same hotel room. Booking is right in the middle of our trip, Monday Dec 2- Tuesday Dec 3 but we might be able to move it. But I really don't want to be in RodT on a Saturday night, too crowded for that charming small town.
Here's the wild card, Bolzano Italy. We're thinking 3 nights. Again, high priority experience. Could be talked into somewhere else in Northern Italy, but would have to remain within the 3 night window and Bolzano seemed our best bet for a small town with character.
2 experienced travellers, decent health, in our (ahem) 60's. (I just got there and am a little sensitive about it...)
Depending on how you slice that, it's 13 days. We do want at least one night in Munich to visit the Medieval Market again, but could fill a couple nights in Munich, either one night at a time as we head somewhere else, or two nights together.
The night train that I can find is really best if you go Budapest-Munich, in that you'll get most of the night on the train. I looked at taking it as far as Salzburg, but for whatever mysterious train-related reasons, you'd be dumped out in Salzburg before 5 am while the same 8:40 pm departure time from Budapest to Munich is a reasonable nearly-8 am. (7-something if I recall correctly.)
We have done a couple of train trips in France, but are train newbies. Any suggestions on how we can stitch this together? The schedules boggle me. Getting to Rothenburg for instance looks like a trial (4 connections from Munich for something that takes 2.5 hrs in a car).
Thoughts? Tips? As I said, we're not terribly experienced train travellers, and it gives me hives that train schedules aren't released for a couple months yet.